Can I get an encore

Phone rang the other day at work. I normally have the cell phone off, but I turned it on at lunch that day for some reason. We were all in a conference room having a party and I answer but the stupid thing's on speaker phone and won't turn off so I'm trying to leave the room and everyone's laughing and making silly comments and I finally ended up just hanging up on my wife (sorry!). It had been a weird morning, Rachel was up before the crack of dawn so I played with her while Lori got ready. Most days I don't even see the little one before leaving for work. Well, I called Lori back and she said she was calling because Rachel was telling her that she's saying "miss daddy" and signing "cry." That was pretty cool. Of course, I didn't get a chance to mention that during the party and say "Take that, you, you, you mockers!"

Congrats to R & C on baby Grayson and N & C on baby Miles. Congrats to new parents to be J & S and A & J. And J & D - any day now, any day now!

It's the little things...

Just instant messaged to me:

I thought you'd be proud to hear that Rachel just asked to see "Bob the Builder." She said "Watch Bob." I said "Bob?" and she said "Bob the Builder, Mommy."

Last night Rachel wanted to go downstairs and watch Bear on the DVR. However, I wanted to hang a curtain rod upstairs and I was watching her, so I brought up the OnDemand guide upstairs and showed her three episodes of Bob the Builder. Bear isn't available OnDemand, so I had to choose from Blue's Clues (I'm tired of), Zoobamafoo (I'm scared of), Sesame Street (Rachel is scared of lately) or something she'd never seen before. So I put on Bob the Builder.

That, combined with the fact that she loves going to Home Depot and always wants to wear her Home Depot "smock" every time she goes means I'm having an impact on my daughter. :)

Oh. I should mention that I put up the gate last Thursday night, so now the fence is nearly complete. I mention that here because while I held the drill, Rachel pulled the trigger and drove in a few of the screws. So that means that the fence was a true family experience, with work done by both of my parents, Lori, Rachel and I.

Babies

Congrats to babies M and J. Congrats to the new moms and dads, too!

Vacation's Over

Rachel's starting to ask for people she once knew, like after church she wanted to have lunch with Kinley and Kira. We'd often go to Taco Bell and find those two there with their mom and dad. They moved to Colorado a few weeks after we moved here. She's also been asking about Uncle Rich and Aunt Christi as well as Abby from church and Robbie and Alexander from her old daycare. I think she's starting to notice that she hasn't seen these people in a long time, that this isn't just another vacation, but that things are different. She still doesn't seem to be showing any negative signs as a result of the move, but maybe it's not just as out-of-sight-out-of-mind as we had thought.